Today in Math

Today in math we learned about vectors with non-real numbers, how interesting. We did our daily warm-ups and went over homework. I thought the homework from last night was easy. After that, we took notes. We learned that the absolute value of the complex number z = a+bi is a + bi = square root of "a" squared + "b" squared. It's that easy. The trigonometric form of a complex number is z = r(cosa + i·sina). We learned a bunch of complicated stuff.

Today in History

Today in history was just like any other day. We took notes on World War I. After that we saw a movie. It was "The Great Train Robbery." It was a milestone in film making. It was one of the first "narrative" films. It first came out in 1903. It was sold out for two years. At the end of the film, one of the robbers points his gun at the camera and starts to shoot. People back then didn't know it wouldn't hurt them. They freaked out thinking they were going to get shot. It was also one of the first "colored" films. The whole screen was just one color and it went with the mood. I thought it was funny how they made it. The people who got shot were over dramatic. I thought it was an okay film. After the film, we read an article on daily life in a trench during WWI. It was a really hard life. There was death, giant rats, lice, other pests, disease, and horrendous smells everywhere. We then answered questions afterwards.

A Book Everyone Should Read

I don't read often. The last book I willingly read was The Listening Walls by Margaret Miller before summer break. In this book, two best friends, Amy and Wilma, go off to Mexico on a vacation. Amy has always been the quiet one who aims to please, while Wilma is, loud, sometimes depressed, and often drunk. When Wilma buys an expensive silver box with Amy's husband's initials on it, the two of them have a fight over what that implies, then drink way too much tequila. After they go back up to the room, Wilma falls off the balcony and dies. While plenty of people on the busy street saw her land, no one saw or heard what happened in the hotel room except Amy and Consuela, the maid who often rests in the broom closet while listening to the guests through the thin hotel walls.

After Amy's husband, Rupert, brings her home from Mexico, he calls her overly-protective brother, Gill, and tells him that Amy decided to go away for awhile and wouldn't tell anyone where she was going. Gill doesn't really buy this, and when Rupert starts acting nervous, Gill hires a private detective to look into Amy's disappearance.

It turns out that Amy is alright. Amy thinks that she killed Wilma because Consuela told her that she drank too much tequila and pushed Wilma off the balcony. Rupert knows that Consuela killed Wilma, so Rupert, Gill, Amy, and Rupert's secretary team up to make Consuela confess. They eventually do and she was taken to jail. Once everyone arrives to the U.S. Amy tells Gill to keep a secret. In order to find out what she told him read The Listening Walls.

I like the book because it has a lot of suspense. It kept me reading for more.

Fuego en la Sangre

Mi música de mariachi.

My mariachi music.